with mighty beams in its fine timber roof, and panels with the arms of
Westminster boys now dead on the walls. The bar over which the pancake
is tossed on Shrove Tuesday is pointed out, and a very great height it
is. At the upper end of the room, which, by the way, is now used only
for prayers, concerts, etc., is the birching-table, black and worn with
age and use. Dryden's name, carved on a bench, is shown, and a chair
presented by King Charles to Dr. Busby. The walls date originally from
the twelfth century or earlier, but were practically rebuilt in the end
of the eighteenth century. The only part of the college buildings which
formed part of the original school is the college hall, built by Abbot
Litlington in 1380 as the monks' refectory. But by far the oldest part
of the buildings at present incorporated in the school is the Norman
crypt, approached from the dark cloister, and forming part of the
gymnasium made by the Chapter in 1860, by roofing in the walls beyond
it, between it and the Chapter-house. A stranger gymnasium, surely, no
school can boast.

The name of Dr. Busby, Headmaster from 1638 to 1695, will be for ever
held in honour at Westminster. He himself had been a Westminster boy,
and all his great ability and strong character were bent to furthering
the interests of the school.

The roll of names of those educated at Westminster includes Dryden,
Bishop Atterbury, Cowley, Warren Hastings, Gibbon, Thomas Cowper,
Charles Wesley, Lord John Russell, and many others well known wherever
the English tongue is spoken.

In 1706 there were nearly 400 boys, but after this the school began to
decline; in 1841 it was at a very low ebb--there were less than seventy
boys. The reasons for this decline were manifold. Building had been
going on apace round the quiet precincts, and parents fancied their sons
would be better in the country; also, though the charges were high, the
system of living was extremely rough, and no money was spent on
repairing the buildings. In 1845, when Wilberforce was appointed Dean,
he set to work to inspire fresh life into the institution, but he had
hardly time to do anything before he was appointed to the See of Oxford;
however, the current set flowing by him gathered strength, and in 1846,
when Liddell (afterwards Dean of Christchurch) was made Headmaster, the
school was recovering its prosperity.

Ashburnham House was taken over by the school in 1882, and it is well
worth a visit. In